This is a Gift?

Have you ever received one of those gifts that just made you scratch your head?    Have you ever politely said thank you, while secretly wondering what you were going to do with it or what the giver was ever thinking?

Today, I was listening to Jason Upton's Glimpse cd, and there is a song in which he is singing about forgiveness and looking at our friends forgetting they were our enemies.   Later in the song, he starts talking about the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when Peter cut off the servant's ear.   Jesus healed the servant, and told Peter "Those who live by the sword will die by the sword."   Jason then points out the next question that Jesus asks Peter, "Shall I not drink the cup that my Father has given me," saying that true freedom is looking into the eyes of your betrayer and saying "you are a cup from my Father." 

While I have heard this song and statement several times, today it struck me to the core.   As you might have guessed from the recent posts, it has been a season in which there is one who has been causing much pain in my life.   In fact, I would say this one has been a "betrayer" of sorts, with a lot of kindness to my face, but backstabbing any other time.    With all this going on, I have been so focused on my failure to respond to this "trial", and the angst and pain of picking up offenses, laying them down, then picking them up again, only to stay on this hamster wheel of forgiving my very own Judas.   But today, I was forced to consider that maybe this Judas is a "cup from my Father," a gift?

The Bible tells us that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.   I wonder if He thought, "Gee, Dad...thanks for this one!"   It's almost like getting a treadmill for Christmas (which I do not recommend gifting anyone unless he/she has point blank asked for one-but that's another post).   For me, this would be a practical gift, but nothing I would just love.  I know exercise is important, but it just does not bring the same joy to me that it does to my crazy work-out loving friends.    Yet, what if the treadmill was not the real gift, but rather something that was needed to prepare me for what the real gift is?   What if the gift is a trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro, and in order to fully experience the beauty, I need to be able to climb the mountain?   In order to be able to climb the mountain, I need to be able to walk farther than the distance it is from the couch to the refrigerator.     For Christ, the gift was restoring us to His Father, being in relationship with us, being seated on the right hand of the Father. 

But it all started with becoming a helpless baby, enduring life as a human (working in business, dealing with church politics, and trying to please his parents as well as his friends all at the same time), and then walking through the most painful three days known to man (betrayal by a good friend, false accusations, excruciating punishment and death, and separation from God).    That's some gift, eh?  

James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes from the Father of Lights."   As I noted last night, He had only good gifts for us.   So, if you are faced with a Judas (which means "praise", by the way), and your "gift" isn't feeling very good, there is something good that God is wanting to give you.  It might be the gift of peace, or the gift of expanded grace and patience, or the gift of forgiveness leading to a deeper revelation of His love.  It could be that this Judas is preparing you for beauty like you've never seen or experienced.   So, while it feels counterculture and unnatural, rejoice in the treadmill, press through and work it out.  Kilimanjaro will be worth it all!